In recent years, there has been a demand for a reduction in the height and width of electrical connectors used for the purpose of electrically connecting an automotive circuit board and electrical wiring or the like. With such an electrical connector, it is necessary to form in the housing numerous contact accommodating cavities for accommodating contacts and numerous housing lances for fastening the contacts in place. The formation of contact accommodating cavities and housing lances is generally accomplished simultaneously with the molding of a housing using a mold. However, as the reduction in the height and width of electrical connectors progresses, it is becoming difficult to form housing lances by molding using a conventional mold. A construction has therefore been adopted in the past in which housing lances are formed by molding without providing interpole walls between adjacent contact accommodating cavities on the mating surface of the housing to reduce the height and the width of the electrical connector.
However, although this construction is convenient for forming housing lances by molding using a mold, because no interpole walls are provided on the mating surface between the adjacent contact accommodating cavities, there is a problem in that the mechanical strength of the housing is low. Additionally, because no interpole walls are provided on the mating surface between the adjacent contact accommodating cavities, a tool insertion hole for the insertion of a tool cannot be formed for each of the contact accommodating cavities. Thus, it is difficult to guide the tip end of the release tool to the position of a contact that is desired to be released from the housing, because the pitch becomes increasingly narrow and interferes with the release operation of the housing lances.
FIGS. 14-15 (see JP 05-198331) show an electrical connector of the prior art wherein the formation of housing lances is not performed simultaneously with the molding of the housing using a mold. In the electrical connector shown in FIGS. 14-15, a latch member that is a separate body from the housing is provided, thus making it possible to hold contacts reliably in the respective contact accommodating cavities. As shown in FIGS. 14-15, the electrical connector 101 comprises a housing 110, a latch member 120, a contact position securing member 130, and a plurality of contacts 140. The housing 110 is formed in a substantially rectangular solid shape. A plurality of contact accommodating cavities 111 are formed in two rows (upper and lower rows) in the housing 110, as shown in FIG. 14. Each of the contact accommodating cavities 111 extends in the forward-rearward direction of the housing 110 (left-right direction in FIG. 15). A latch receiving slot 112 that extends in the left-right direction (direction perpendicular to the plane of page in FIG. 15) and in the forward-rearward direction of the housing 110 is formed between the upper and lower contact accommodating cavities 111. The contacts 140 are designed to be accommodated inside the individual contact accommodating cavities 111 from the rear of the housing 110, as shown in FIG. 15. An electrical wire W is connected to each of the contacts 140.
The latch member 120 has a base 121 that extends in the row direction of the contact accommodating cavities 111, as shown in FIG. 14. The base 121 is provided with a plurality of elastic arms 122, 123 that extend forward from the base 121 in two rows. The latch member 120 is designed to be inserted into the latch receiving slot 112 of the housing 110 from the front of the housing 110. The elastic arms 122 are provided with locking members 122a that protrude into the upper contact accommodating cavities 111. The elastic arms 123 are provided with locking members 123a that protrude into the lower contact accommodating cavities 111. The locking members 122a of the elastic arms 122 are used for the primary locking of the contacts 140 that are accommodated inside the upper contact accommodating cavities 111, while the locking members 123a of the elastic arms 123 are used for the primary locking of the contacts 140 that are accommodated inside the lower contact accommodating cavities 111, as shown in FIG. 15. Notches 122b that engage with the inner surface 111a of the front portion of the housing 110 are formed at the front ends of the elastic arms 122. Notches 123b that engage with the inner surface 111a of the front portion of the housing 110 are formed at the front ends of the elastic arms 123. As a result of the notches 122b, 123b engaging with the inner surface 111a of the front portion of the housing 110, the latch member 120 is prevented from dropping out of the latch receiving slot 112.
The contact position securing member 130 is temporarily locked in a first position of the housing 110 from the rear of the housing 110 and moved from the first position to the final position so that main locking is accomplished. FIG. 15 shows a state in which the main locking of the contact position securing member 130 with the housing 110 is accomplished. In the main locking state, the upper tongues 131 of the contact position securing member 130 contact the rear portions of the contacts 140 whose primary locking is performed by the locking members 122a of the upper elastic arms 122, thus accomplishing the secondary locking of the contacts 140. In the main locking state, the lower tongues 132 of the contact position securing member 130 contact the rear portions of the contacts 140 whose primary locking is performed by the locking members 123a of the lower elastic arms 123, thus accomplishing the secondary locking of the contacts 140.
In the electrical connector 101, a latch member 120 that is a separate body from the housing 110 is provided, which makes it possible to hold the contacts 140 reliably in the contact accommodating cavities 111 and to provide interpole walls between adjacent contact accommodating cavities on the mating surface of the housing 110, so that the mechanical strength of the housing 110 is not lowered. The formation of a tool insertion hole for each of the contact accommodating cavities 111 is also possible.
Several problems, however, have been encountered in the electrical connector 101 shown in FIGS. 14-15. Specifically, in the electrical connector 101, the latch receiving slot 112 that receives the latch member 120 is formed between the two rows (upper and lower rows) of contact accommodating cavities 111 in the housing 110, so that the latch member 120 is inserted into the latch receiving slot 112 from the front of the housing 110. Therefore, the height of the electrical connector 101 in the vertical direction cannot be reduced. If a low profile is to be achieved by making the housing walls thinner in the construction of the electrical connector 101 shown in FIGS. 14-15, then the shape of the latch member 120 itself will inevitably be made more compact as well, making it difficult to obtain a construction in which the latch member 120 is properly held in the housing 110. Accordingly, in cases where a low profile is achieved by making the housing walls thinner in the construction of the electrical connector 101 shown in FIGS. 14-15, there is a problem in that the latch member 120 cannot be properly held, so that a sufficient contact holding force cannot be obtained.